The number of foreclosed homes rose to nearly 245,000 over the summer after fewer people at risk received assistance lowering their monthly mortgage payments, a new report shows. About 470,000 homeowners received help either directly from banks or through government programs in the July-September quarter, according to a report released Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision. That's a 17 percent drop from the previous quarter and a decline of 32 percent from the same period last year. The report only covers the 64 percent of mortgages that are held by national banks and thrifts.

Growth to affect economic balance of powerA global economic power shift is being accelerated by population growth in Asia's emerging markets, while the United States will be buoyed by a relatively youthful populace, according to analyses of international figures. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is poised to see its population contract at a 0.2 percent rate in 2015 after expanding at a 0.3 percent in 1995, data from the U.S. Census Bureau show. China, the world's most populous country, is projected to grow at a 0.4 percent rate and India will expand at a 1.2 percent rate in 2015.

Insider trading arrests continueFederal prosecutors in Manhattan filed new charges Wednesday as part of a national probe of insider trading, accusing Winifred Jiau of California of selling inside information to two unidentified hedge funds. Jiau, arrested Wednesday in Fremont, Calif., was accused of selling data on Nvidia Corp. and Marvell Technology Group Ltd., makers of computer components, through a so-called expert networking firm, according to a filing in Manhattan federal court. The hedge funds paid Jiau $200,000 through an expert networking firm, prosecutors said. Jiau, 43, is charged with securities fraud and conspiracy.

Sale of Boston skyscraper marks turnaroundThe John Hancock Tower, a 62-story glass skyscraper in Boston, was one of the first real estate trophies to run into trouble when the speculative property boom abruptly ended two years ago. Normandy Real Estate Partners and Five Mile Capital Partners bought the building at a foreclosure auction 18 months ago for $660.6 million, or about half of its price in 2006. Wednesday, Normandy and Five Mile officially sold the Hancock Tower to Boston Properties for $930 million. "It is an epic conclusion for an iconic landmark," said Finn Wentworth, a founding partner at Normandy.

Russian smart phone with new chip unveiledBillionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov's holding company AFK Sistema unveiled the country's first smart phone equipped with the Glonass navigation chip as the government seeks to challenge U.S. control of satellite navigation. Devices with chips developed by Sistema and state-run Russian Nanotechnologies Corp. will go on sale for $360 in March, Yevtushenkov said in a televised briefing with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin late Tuesday. "We should start selling it by March 8 as a present for women so they can always identify on the map where their husbands are," Putin said. Glonass suffered a setback earlier this month when a Proton-M rocket that aimed to deliver three Glonass navigation satellites into orbit fell into the Pacific.

FROM NEWS SERVICES